"Thanks."
Jing Minghe thanked Fang Chao and led his people downstairs.
They walked all the way to the first floor lobby, not seeing a single person.
The four of them arrived at the restaurant. Jing Minghe raised an eyebrow and said, "I didn't expect that in this hotel, the restaurant would be the brightest place."
"Not bad," Gu Chenhui commented.
It was indeed not bad. Seven large round tables, seven small square tables. The chefs had already neatly arranged the prepared dishes, snacks, fruits, and drinks on the buffet counter.
There was no sign of the chefs, only a small door labeled "Kitchen," which was currently closed, making it impossible to see inside.
Gu Chenhui looked around and said, "Alright, let's eat first. We can look for clues after we finish eating."
"Mhm."
Jing Minghe responded and walked in first. Chi Hao followed closely behind Jing Minghe. Gu Chenhui smiled and quickly followed suit.
As You Mi entered the restaurant, she asked curiously, "That's strange, Qiao Qiao isn't in the restaurant. Did she go to look for clues by herself?"
"Perhaps," Jing Minghe handed You Mi a tray. "Let's eat first. Those who are supposed to come will likely arrive soon."
What did he mean by "those who are supposed to come will likely arrive soon"?
You Mi felt that Jing Minghe's words had a hidden meaning, but she couldn't grasp it. She figured she would understand when the time was right, so she took the tray from Jing Minghe and went to choose her food without asking further questions.
After they were seated, Gu Chenhui glanced towards the entrance and said, "I saw when I passed the lobby that the hotel's main door seemed to be locked. I don't know if we can get out."
Jing Minghe took a bite of a bun. It tasted good, and his mood was much better than in the previous instance. He smiled and said, "The scope of this instance should be limited to this hotel. There's no need to go out."
"Eat first," Chi Hao placed a piece of meat on Jing Minghe's plate. "We'll talk about other things after we're full."
"Alright, brother."
Just as Jing Minghe and the others were about to finish eating, An Ruo and Xia Rong entered one after another. Before they could greet each other, they heard a scream from upstairs.
"It's Qiao Qiao!" You Mi suddenly stood up, ready to run out.
Jing Minghe reached out and pulled You Mi back, his expression serious. "Wait, something's not right."
"Ah!"
"Ah!"
Another two screams echoed, the same voices, yet simultaneously coming from different directions. One sounded close, the other sounded distant.
"What's going on?" You Mi asked, confused. "How can that be?"
It sounded like Qiao Qiao's voice earlier, but now it didn't. Moreover, how could the same voice come from different directions?
"No, is it auditory hallucination?"
As You Mi finished speaking, the screams rang out again. This time, not one, not two, but many.
Listening to the rising and falling screams, everyone was momentarily at a loss, standing still.
"What are you doing?"
It was Fang Chao who entered the restaurant at this moment. He looked at Jing Minghe and the others with a bewildered expression.
An Ruo turned her head and asked him timidly, "You, you can't hear it?"
"Can't hear?" Fang Chao said as he walked further into the restaurant. "Can't hear what? Are there any strange sounds?"
As soon as Fang Chao said this, An Ruo, Xia Rong, and You Mi simultaneously showed expressions of disbelief. Their expressions naturally caught Fang Chao's eye.
He stopped and quickly turned back to stand in front of An Ruo, asking sternly, "What did you hear?"
Startled by Fang Chao's demeanor, An Ruo hid behind Xia Rong. Xia Rong frowned slightly and said, "Screams, can't you hear them? Many of them, the same voice, sounding at the same time, but from different directions."
Hearing Xia Rong's words, Fang Chao immediately focused his senses and listened intently. However, apart from his own breathing and that of the others, he could hear nothing.
After listening for a while, unconvinced, Fang Chao said unhappily, "You're not playing a trick on me, are you? Is it that funny?"
"Believe it or not," Xia Rong said, then walked towards Jing Minghe and the others and asked, "What are you going to do? Wait for the sound to stop before looking for clues?"
Jing Minghe stood up, thought for a moment, and said to Chi Hao and the others, "Let's split up and check."
"Wait," Gu Chenhui interjected. "We don't know how many floors this hotel has. I saw a staircase going up on the fourth floor, so there are at least five floors. There are seven of us here, how should we group up?"
Jing Minghe looked at You Mi and An Ruo respectively and suggested, "Miss An Ruo and Brother Xia can go together. Sister You Mi, you can go with Brother Hao. For the remaining three floors, I, Brother Hui, and Fang Chao will each take one floor."
"Okay!" An Ruo immediately agreed.
Chi Hao wanted to say something, but after a moment of hesitation, he remained silent.
Given the situation, Fang Chao had no appetite to eat. He snorted and said, "So be it. I'll take one floor, and you guys can split the rest."
With that, he walked directly out of the restaurant.
"Why should he be responsible for one floor?" An Ruo muttered quietly. "One floor only has the lobby and this restaurant, you can see it all at a glance."
"I'll take You Mi to the second floor," Chi Hao said. "After we finish checking, we'll come up to find you."
Jing Minghe nodded and watched Chi Hao and You Mi leave.
Gu Chenhui smiled and said as he walked out, "The fourth floor only has guest rooms where we're staying, and nothing else. That's even better. You two can go to the fourth floor, no problem, right? Hmm?"
Xia Rong opened his mouth but said nothing, directly turning and leaving. Seeing this, An Ruo quickly followed.
"I'll go to the fifth floor."
"Fifth floor for me."
Jing Minghe and Gu Chenhui spoke at the same time.
The fifth floor was arguably the floor with the most unknowns, after all, no one knew if there was a sixth, seventh, or even more floors above.
"I'll go then," Jing Minghe said, raising his hand to pat Gu Chenhui's shoulder, and smiling. "After you finish checking the lower floors, you can come up to find me. It's only the first day, the most important things are unlikely to happen today."
Gu Chenhui saw Jing Minghe's persistence and finally agreed. "Alright, I'll finish checking quickly and come up to find you."
"Mhm, let's go."
Seeing that everyone had gone upstairs, Fang Chao walked out from behind the bar. He hadn't heard anything, but he couldn't be sure whether Jing Minghe and the others were playing a trick on him or if they could really hear those screams.
Fang Chao hesitated for a moment. He had only met Jing Minghe and the others in this instance, and they had no past grievances. It made no sense for them to deceive him.
After pondering for a while, Fang Chao looked around the first floor. Apart from the bar counter, the first-floor lobby only had a few tables and chairs for guests. Around the corner was the restaurant, which could be seen at a glance and didn't have much to search. He had noticed earlier that the kitchen door was closed, perhaps the chefs were still inside. He had no desire to interact with the NPCs in the instance at the moment.
"It's better to follow them."
Having made up his mind, Fang Chao cautiously went up to the second floor. As he reached the turn in the staircase, a figure quickly flashed across the lobby. Fang Chao's peripheral vision happened to catch sight of that figure. Sudannovel.com
What was that? Did a normal person move that fast? Fang Chao paused, unsure whether to continue upstairs or go down to investigate.